Expectations for learning don't add up - Griffith University

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PAGE 6 GRIFFITH INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH NEWSLETTER Building research capacity in South Africa Above: Ms Ortrun Zuber- Skerritt, Griffith Institute for Educational Research Adjunct member. Griffith Institute for Educational Research (GIER) Adjunct Professor, Ortrun Zuber-Skerritt, recently conducted two residential professional development programs in higher education through Action Learning and Action Research Association (ALARA) in South Africa with colleagues from the University of Stellenbosch. The first was a four-day research retreat with nine local female academics in the Curriculum Development and Support Unit (CDS) at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria. The aims were to help these women to build research capacity in their fiveyear scholarship-based project on aspects of “access, retention and success of students in TUT”; and in particular to develop their ability to write a literature review and research proposal for a higher degree or grant application. These women had been teachers in historically disadvantaged institutions of higher education (so-called technikons) before the merger into TUT. They were placed in leadership positions in a central research and development unit in this new university, charged with improving learning, teaching and curriculum design in the whole university with no experience in the area. Yet these women are extremely motivated and committed. The second residential professional development program was the result of a successful grant application to AusAID funding a three-day leadership development program in Stellenbosch for project teams working on various aspects of the central theme “poverty reduction and improvement of practice in the health sciences and education” using ALARA methodology. The program brought together 24 program participants from six African countries. GIER member, Associate Professor Brendan Bartlett also facilitated a session on Evaluation. Three teams from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda received funding for travel and accommodation from AusAID through its Seminar Support Scheme (SSS), with sponsorship by OZI (Ortrun Zuber International Pty Ltd), the University of Stellenbosch (Centre for Adult and Higher Education) and Griffith University (GIER). Self- and other-funded individuals and teams from South Africa, Malawi and Mozambique, who were also interested in this theme, were accepted into the program by our colleagues in Stellenbosch. All facilitators and participants have been invited to contribute to a book on “Improving Practice for Poverty Reduction through Action Research: Leadership Development in African Countries”. In addition to this, a joint paper on “Meta-action research on a leadership development program in Africa” will be submitted for publication to integrate research and development as reflective practitioners and action researchers.
Winter 2008 PAGE 7 Sustaining older workers’ competence A Griffith University research project will identify practices for workplaces and educational institutions to sustain and develop the skills of Australia’s growing number of older workers. Griffith Institute for Educational Research member and program leader, Professor Stephen Billett says maintaining the effective working life of older Australian workers is essential for sustaining the economic and social health of the nation. “It’s important for older people’s sense of workplace efficacy and sense of self as productive members of the community,’’ he said. In most advanced industrial economies, if you are working and over 45 years of age, you are classified as an ‘older worker’. Yet, for many older workers, this categorisation brings a range of ambiguities and contradictions. In countries like Australia, the realisation of key social and economic goals is becoming increasingly dependent upon an older workforce. This is because older workers comprise a growing percentage of the nation’s workforce. There is a decline in the number of workers entering the workforce, and people are electing or will have to work longer. The reality is that to sustain the quality and extent of the nation’s goods and services, the competence of these older workers will need to be maintained and sustained, for longer. Like other categories of workers, these workers also need to maintain that competence in face of constant changes to work and ways of working. Yet, in the provision of opportunities for further development and advancement employers tend to overlook older workers. The preference is for supporting and promoting younger and well-qualified workers. This preference may well continue as younger workers increasingly become a scarce commodity. Working with colleagues from the University of Stirling, this International Linkage project seeks to identify ways to sustain older workers’ occupational competence through a program of collaborative research in Australia and Britain. Both countries have unresolved concerns about maintaining the effectiveness of older workers and developing their capacities to manage their transitions to new work, ways of working and current work requirements. The project aims to: (i) inform policy and practice for both countries’ workplaces and education institutions to effectively maintain older workers’ capacities and managing work transitions; (ii) identify appropriate learning strategies and curriculum practices for these purposes in both workplaces and educational institutions; (iii) identify, evaluate and share instances of good practice in workplaces and educational programmes; and (iv) develop effective institutional responses to this shared problem. To realise these aims, older workers’ competence in each country, two industry sectors will be investigated in Australia compatible with the British counterpart program. Within each industry sector, there will be 30 interviews and five focus groups with older workers to identify key factors shaping the prospects for older workers’ continuing workplace competence. These factors will be elaborated through up to six case studies. Then, a survey will be undertaken across a wider cohort of older workers to verify the plausibility of what has been identified in these earlier activities.
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Expectations for learning don't add up - Griffith University

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